Evaluation of heavy roller compaction on a large-thickness layer of subgrade with full-scale field experiments
Shujian Wang, Hongguang Jiang, Zongbao Wang, Yujie Wang, Yixin Li, Xueyu Geng, Xinyu Wang, Kai Wang, Yi-yi Liu, Yan-kun Gong
Abstract
Subgrade construction is frequently interrupted due to precipitation, soil shortage, and environmental protection. Therefore, increasing the thickness layer is required to reduce construction costs and to allow highways to be placed into service earlier. This paper presents a series of full-scale field experiments evaluating the compaction quality of gravel subgrade with large-thickness layers of 65 cm and 80 cm using heavy vibratory rollers. An improved sand cone method was first proposed and calibrated to investigate the distribution of soil compaction degree across the full subgrade depth. Results showed that dynamic soil stresses caused by the heavy vibratory rollers were 2.4–5.9 times larger than those of traditional rollers, especially at deeper depths, which were large enough to densify the soils to the full depth. A unified empirical formula was proposed to determine the vertical distribution of dynamic soil stresses caused by roller excitation. It was demonstrated that soils were effectively compacted in a uniform fashion with respect to the full depth to 96.0%–97.2% and 94.1%–95.4% for the large-thickness layers of 65 cm and 80 cm within 6 or 7 passes, respectively. Empirically, linear formulae were finally established between soil compaction degree and the subgrade reaction modulus, dynamic modulus of deformation, dynamic deflection, and relative difference of settlement to conveniently evaluate the compaction qualities. It is demonstrated that increasing the thickness layer by means of heavy rollers can significantly reduce the cost and time burdens involved in construction while ensuring overall subgrade quality.